


The Housewarming Gift

by shadowtraveled (meteorfest)



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-25
Updated: 2014-07-25
Packaged: 2018-02-10 07:38:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2016567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meteorfest/pseuds/shadowtraveled
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Percy and Sally are moving into a new apartment. While unpacking, Percy receives a mysterious gift basket with a card that no mother should find in her teenaged son's possession. (First published in "Virtue and Vice" collection, 2012ish)</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Housewarming Gift

**Author's Note:**

> Moved from ff.net. Written after a friend encouraged me to write a fic based on an image of the card described in the fic. Originally published as part of a drabble collection. Sliiiiightly canon divergent, as it was written with the movie ages in mind so Percy is older than in the books.

Moving into a new apartment wasn't altogether that difficult when it came to Percy and his mother. Sally Jackson had a very particular way of doing things and she got everything they needed organized, packed up, and ready for moving in what seemed like record time. They were leaving their long time home and with their departure, they were leaving behind the turmoil of their previous lives there, as well as the bad memories – and bad smell – of Gabe Ugliano.

Their new apartment was bigger and, with it just being the two of them now, much roomier. The walls of the apartment were blank canvases, ready to play host to Sally's homey décor and Percy's posters. Percy's room overlooked the streets and he could see the Empire State Building from his window, so he could just look out and wonder what his dad was up to, if Poseidon was on Olympus or at his undersea palace. The son of Poseidon was looking forward to moving in and settling into his new home.

After getting all the boxes of their belongings from the moving truck and up to the apartment, Percy took his things to his new room while Sally directed the helpers she'd hired, getting the furniture set up in the living room. One of the helpers brought in the pieces for Percy's bed as the teen was unpacking and Percy decided to set that up first, so he could lounge around when he decided to take a break. Unpacking was serious business and should have had most of Percy's attention, but he knew he'd be too excited to stick to one thing at a time. He wound up moving from box to box, unpacking his posters, then shifting his attention to his small box of books, back to posters, to his clothes.

A couple hours into the task, there was a knock at the door to the apartment. Percy could hear his mother calling that she'd be right there, Sally's footsteps as she crossed the apartment to the door and the creak of the door as she opened it. There was a short exchange of words too faint for Percy to hear, then his mother was coming towards his room. He looked up when she appeared in the doorway and was met with a very perplexed look from his mother as she held one of those custom gift baskets advertised on television.

"Percy, this came for you," Sally told her son, her confusion coloring her voice.

Percy arched a brow and moved over to his mother to take a look. That was...unexpected, to say the least. None of his friends knew the address of the new apartment yet, since he hadn't given it to anyone. "Really?"

Sally pointed to the envelope attached to the basket. There on the front was Percy's name, very clearly written in blocky handwriting. "I have to say, this is the strangest housewarming gift I've ever seen."

She had a point. The basket looked nice, wrapped in crinkly blue plastic, tied with a simple length of twine, but it was definitely not the average gift basket. Instead of the customary snacks, coupon book or anything extravagant, the basket held a wide variety of toiletries. Travel samples of shampoo, body wash, toothpaste and mouthwash were neatly arranged in the basket. Percy could see a pack of dental floss, some teeth-whitening strips and a pack of Orbit Wintermint chewing gum stuck between the samples.

"Any idea who'd send this?" Sally asked as Percy took the gift basket.

Percy knew exactly who'd sent it. Only one person had ever given him toiletries before, on his first day at Camp Half-Blood. A smirk flashed through his memory, lips tugging at an old scar, a low laugh of amusement echoing in the teen's mind.

_"I stole you some toiletries."_

At the time, Percy hadn't thought of it as anything besides just the nicest thing anyone had done for him that day. In retrospect, though, the way Luke had been smiling at him, the tone in the older demigod's voice, the glint in the pair of blue eyes that had been focused on him, all of it should have been clue enough to what the son of Hermes had really meant. Percy had been a bit overwhelmed by the loss of his mother, his introduction to the world of gods and demigods, and the hectic realization that his life was never going to be normal again to realize that the son of Hermes had, in fact, been hitting on him.

Of course, it had taken another month after he, Grover and Annabeth had returned from their question and an encounter in the woods where Luke had betrayed him – summoning a pit scorpion, telling him that 'a new age was coming and Percy wouldn't be a part of it, and stealing a kiss from the younger demigod before disappearing, leaving Percy to fight the scorpion – before Percy had even realized it. What a thing to finally get through his head when he'd woken up in the infirmary later, realizing that Luke had been flirting with him that first day, in a circumnavigated, completely Hermes-style way.

"Are you going to open the card?"

Sally's question pulled Percy out of his reverie and he blinked at her for a moment before realizing he should answer. "Uh, yeah," he replied. "In a little while."

Sally gave a slight frown, but nodded anyways. "I'm going to finish unpacking the kitchen, then do you want to go get some lunch?"

"Sure." Percy nodded and moved to go set the gift basket down on the desk the movers had brought up and put in his room. He pulled the card off the basket after his mother had left and held it in his hands for a moment. Finally, he slipped his finger under the glued flap, tearing it open and pulling the card out.

He very nearly shouted at the sight of the card. It was only because he did  _not_  want his mother coming in again to see it that he managed to swallow his surprise.

On the front of an otherwise plain white card, were blue and red words declaring "I am so happy I get to see you naked on a regular basis."

"Oh my gods." Percy opened the card and saw, in the same blocky handwriting as on the envelope, a note from Luke. "'Look out the window.'"

Hesitant – because this was Luke, the friend who had betrayed him – the son of Poseidon moved over to the window. He had no idea what to expect. Everything about Luke was unpredictable and Percy was very quickly learning to keep his guard up whenever something involving the older demigod was brought up. Opening his window, Percy leaned out.

Only to have Luke himself duck down from above, upside down, and steal a kiss from the son of Poseidon.

"Luke!" Percy exclaimed, pulling back and reaching into his pocket for Riptide. He kept his hand in his pocket, not pulling the pen out just yet. His face was warm, undoubtedly red. Despite the betrayal, despite the fact that Luke had tried to kill him, Percy couldn't deny that he'd enjoyed the stolen kisses, couldn't deny that what had hurt most about Luke backstabbing him, had been that he had genuinely liked the son of Hermes. "What are you  _doing_  here? How did you even know I was moving here?"

"I have my ways," Luke replied, still flying upside down outside of Percy's window. He apparently had no qualms about flying where mortals could see – if the mortals even looked up that high; Percy's apartment was on the fifth floor.

"Stalker."

"I prefer to be called a resourceful opportunist." Luke grinned at the son of Poseidon. "Though I can't stick around long. Have plans for now. Just wanted to make sure you got the gift basket!" He finally swung in the air, bringing himself upright. "I'll being  _seeing you_ , Percy!"

Before Percy could ask any questions – like  _where_  Luke would be seeing him from and if the card was serious or Luke was just messing with him – the older demigod had ascended towards the roof of the building, disappearing out of Percy's sight, even when the son of Poseidon ran back to the window and leaned out to try to see where Luke had gone.

"Percy?" Sally appeared back in the doorway. "I thought I heard something."

"It was nothing," Percy told his mother, pulling himself back into the room, though not before tucking the card in the large pocket of his hoodie so his mother wouldn't see it. "Just meeting a new neighbor through the window."

"Oh." Sally seemed skeptical, but she let it go. "Ready for lunch?"

"Yeah, I'm starved."


End file.
